School disruption set to continue

Disruption was set to continue today at schools returning from the summer holidays as the Home Office attempted to clear a backlog of criminal checks on school staff.

Currently the delays in the system for clearing staff to work with children are expected to last into next week.

Leicester has been worst affected by problems at the troubled Criminal Records Bureau and two schools were forced to close completely, while 540 pupils at a London secondary will also miss three days.

Leicester City Council said that even though Moat Community College and Kestrels' Field Primary School is due to open today, after being forced to stay shut yesterday, four others will have to cut classes on Friday and Monday.

Up to 60 pupils at Coleman Primary have had classes cancelled today, as have up to 90 children at Bridge Junior.

At Catherine Junior School in the city, up to 60 pupils have to stay at home today and Monday.

GCSE students and sixth formers at New College in Leicester have had lessons cancelled today and Monday.

The council said that as the CRB completed more checks, it hoped all schools would be "back to normal by early next week".

Last week, the Government announced a drive to clear the 22,000 most urgent applications by September 4 and almost 10,000 have been processed since then as CRB staff worked through the bank holiday weekend to meet the deadline.

The CRB is a Home Office agency and last night a spokeswoman said that 7,000 of the remaining checks were being "fast-tracked".

However, another 5,000 applications contained "errors" so the CRB was having to contact applicants or their employers by phone to make corrections, she added.

Details of the disruption emerged as headteachers warned that thousands of schools could be affected when children return from the summer holidays next week.

Kestrels' Field headteacher David Axton said that 85 out of a total of 350 pupils had to go home when they arrived with their parents yesterday morning, but the situation would return to normal next week.

He blamed the Department for Education and Skills for not giving schools more time to prepare.

"We didn't get notification until we arrived, and very quickly had notices on doors and windows.

"Providentially, most parents brought their children in and took them home."

He accepted the need to ensure staff without full police clearance did not work with children.

"I fully understand the reason for the decision. I live in Suffolk so events in Soham have been very close to home.

"It's deplorable in a way that the DfES didn't make this decision until August 20.

"The decision should have been made and communicated to schools much earlier than it was so we could have made alternative arrangements."

Efforts to clear the backlog proved insufficient to avert timetable cuts at ADT Community College in Wandsworth, south west London, where the new term started this week and where 540 pupils are missing the first three days.

Other councils in England and Wales reported large numbers of staff still awaiting clearance, but none said they expected school closures next week as a result.

However, the Secondary Heads Association said schools would have to make "abnormal arrangements" to cope with the fact that many teachers and other employees will not have police clearance.

SHA general secretary John Dunford said the problem had arisen because the Government had failed to heed warnings from heads a year ago that the CRB would not have the resources to cope with the number of checks required.

"They under-estimated the number of people coming into schools by a huge factor and the operation was established on the wrong scale.

"That's why they had to have interim measures and that's why we've got an emergency.

"My estimate is that somewhere between 15,000 and 18,000 schools will start on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

"There has to be more than half a chance in the light of what's happened today that many of those schools will not have had all their checks completed."

Public concern about child safety has risen after the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Teachers and other school staff have to undergo a double clearance before they can work with or near children.

Their names must be checked against List 99, a secret DfES dossier of people convicted or suspected of child abuse.

They must also have their criminal records scrutinised, a process that can take some time as they may have worked in several different police force areas, which all have to be contacted.

The CRB was supposed to provide a speedy "one-stop-shop" for both List 99 and criminal record checks, but delays built up almost as soon as it opened in the spring.